Hearing set for former Long Beach city employee charged with embezzlement

LOS ANGELES — A preliminary hearing has been set for a former Long Beach city employee accused of stealing more than a quarter of a million dollars from the Animal Care Bureau.

Jongluck "Lucky" Mutrais, 59, has pleaded not guilty to nine counts: one count of misappropriation of public funds, one count of altering or falsifying an account, one count of embezzlement by public officer and six counts of filing false income tax returns, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Mutrais was arrested earlier this month at her home in Orange. The criminal complaint alleges the defendant - who worked with the Animal Care Bureau as a clerk for 21 years - took more than $250,000 during an 11-month period between Oct. 1, 2009, and Sept. 1, 2010.

Deputy District Attorney Dana Arantani, of the Public Integrity Division, said investigators estimated that, over the course of Mutrais' lengthy employment with the city, she took "hundreds of thousands of dollars in addition to the $251,000" included in the criminal complaint.

The theft came to light in August 2010, after the Animal Care Services Bureau implemented a comprehensive computer system to track funds, prosecutors said.

Mutrais resigned from her job in September 2010, according to the Long Beach Police Department.

She is scheduled to return to the downtown Los Angeles Superior Court on June 18 for a preliminary hearing in which a judge will review the prosecution's case and decide if there is sufficient evidence to try Mutrais on some or all of the felony counts.

Mutrais, meanwhile, is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail. If convicted on all counts, she could face up to nine years in state prison.